New ‘Latvijas brūnā’ 2 Euro coin released

Egils Kaljo | 2016. gada 21. August

The Bank of Latvia has released a new special circulation 2 Euro coin entitled ‘Latvijas brūnā’ or ‘Latvian Brown Cow’. Prior to introducing the Euro, the Latvian 2 Lats coin had an image of a cow on it.

The design of the national side of the coin was by Gunārs Lūsis (graphic design) and Jānis Strupulis (plaster model). The coin was minted by UAB Lietuvos monetu kalykla (Lithuania).

According to the Bank of Latvia website, “The main breed of dairy cows in Latvia is the Latvian Brown. Initially, the Latvian brown cow was registered in 1911 as the Latvian Red-brown, but the Latvian Brown breed was approved in 1922. The Latvian Brown is a reddish-brown cow with darker legs and head, and a dark grey muzzle.”

Egils Kaljo is an American-born Latvian from the New York area who lives in Rīga, Latvia. When not working in the information technology field, he sings in the Latvian Academy of Culture mixed choir Sõla, does occasional translation work, and has been known to sing and play guitar at the Folkklubs Ala Pagrabs in Old Rīga. Kaljo began listening to Latvian music as soon as he was able to put a record on a record player, and still has old Bellacord 78 rpm records lying around somewhere.